Apple Loop: iOS 9 Leaks, iPhone 6S Launch Date, Apple TV Dream Dies

Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop looks at the launch dates for the iPhone 6S and the potential feature list, what elements the camera needs, updates to the Apple Watch and MacBook Pro 15-inch, a lightning connector enabled strap for the Apple Watch, the death of Apple TV, and comparing Nucleus Compression to Apple Maps.

9to5Mac has learnt that Apple, in a strong display of common sense, plans to change the system-wide font of iOS 8. The shift will see it ditch the skinny Helvetica Neue introduced in iOS 7 (and widely criticised for prioritising style over readability) in favour of ‘San Francisco’.

San Francisco is used on the Apple Watch and was developed by Apple “specifically for legibility”. As simple as this shift may sound, it is actually hugely complex to implement. The change in character dimensions affects every element of the UI and creates a lot of work for third party app developers. As such 9to5Mac warns that the shift may be postponed.

Could the iPhone 6S arrive earlier than the expected September date? That's the question answered by various reports on China's UDN network, with the suggestion that a late July launch could be on the cards. Kelly also covers this story, but isn't convinced:

News for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus come via multiplereports on popular Chinese language site UDN which claims the new models are set to arrive in July. This would be two months ahead of the usual September appearance for new iPhones. UDN says the reason for this is higher than expected yields of key components – something usually cited as a challenge most years. On the back of this it is alleged Apple is significantly ramping up component orders.

Apple is many things, and one of them is being a creature of habit. Would it be ready to change that rhythm and tempo to July, especially as the current iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are still selling incredibly well?

Citi also agree with Kuo that the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6es will again be huge hits for Apple. Kuo believes 80-90m units will be shifted in 2015 alone and Citi echos this citing a 34% growth in shipments over the iPhone 6, which itself achieved 50% growth over the iPhone 5S.

Then again what will strike a chord is talk Apple will continue to ignore the 4-inch form factor which proved so popular with the iPhone 5/5S. This will prove a bitter pill to swallow for many not swept up by the bigger is better smartphone craze.

For a long time Apple fans asked for a larger screen, now they have that they want to step back again? With just two base models it's almost impossible to please all the fans all the time.